I shot my first deer Sunday night, a few year old good sized buck. Shot from about 30 yards, and hit halfway up and front of guts (no smell on arrow). He bucked and darted off into the trees and probably made it 30 yards dropped, got up and ran again. We should have waited longer but did wait about 45 min, and went in after it. The arrow had stuck in his side as he ran off and did recover the whole arrow about 80 yards from the hit. We followed blood and tracks for another 75ish yards and that is where we lost the trail. We searched the entire area as best we could that far after dark. Hopefully I am not being too technical with the pictures but I do want to find him when I go out to look again tonight after work. Thanks in advance. Apparently click to enlarge...
Not sure if you have found him. But if you lost blood then its time to start a grid search. Have a few guys come out and just line up and search an area. then start again. Good Luck. and when in doubt back out.
I would look throught the woods, I think if that deer was going to bed down it would be someone thick. look for thick stuff and possibly find a deer.
Start searching...but don't give up on the blood trail...at times it's just one drop every 4 feet that will lead you on the right path. Also think of where he may be trying to get to...a safe bedding area he's used before possibly? Thickest nastiest stuff possibly? They also like to head to water when hit hard sometimes. Took me 6 hours to find my buck this year, but stayed with it and recovered him.
What color was the blood? I cant really tell from the picture. A higher hit and forward of the guts would indicate a liver hit producing very dark blood. A hit further back would put it in the stomach. Bright red blood would indicate a lung hit. I would go back to the first spot you found blood and start leaving markers at ever spec you find. Get some buddies to help. I would also check close to water. Good luck.
I agree, start from the beginning, and put some toilet paper everwhere you fine blood. Sometimes a good vision of the path a deer too can lead you to where it will be. Blood or no blood. I liver shot a doe last year, lower liver, no lungs at all. The blood was dark red, and it never was the classic spray you would get from a lung hit. If its lungs it should look like you dipped your fingers in paint and then flicked it at a canvas. A liver hit will look like its just dripping off the deers side or you had a bucket with a slow leak. If you hit liver that deer will not go far before it lays down. Follow the path of least resitance in line wiht your toiler paper trail.. I got stuck last year for 30 minutes in the same small area where we found no blood. I took the easiest trail and just jumped up 40 yards, found more blood and then 10 yards later was my deer. And we were borderline quitting for the night, or at least for a few hours. Lookin back I made the recovery much worse....for once I had shot one early enough that I got done and looked for blood. She had only went 50 yards and was just standing there dripping blood, I got her going again or im sure she would have just laid down there and got sick and died. Good luck, keep looking, learn from every hit. Even when i see the deer tip over, always look at the trail. It will give you a better idea of the damage done.
Thanks to everyone for the help. We will be going out here in a few hours and should have a good hour or two of light. We will check around the pond (never did before) and check around last blood again. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post when I get home!
Don't get discouraged....keep looking and don't give up...I went through this last year...found my buck after the season was over right where I thought he went...just couldn't ever find him...got to the point where i could take 4 big steps and find one pin drop...if you know what side you hit the deer...then use that to your advantage...if he was hit on the right without pass through he will be bleeding from the right side. Keep looking man. I put in several all dayers to find mine last year. He's in there!!! Good luck!!! Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
when deer are hit bad they normally travel down hill and go to water so keep those in mind. also you might want to ask around if any hunters you know have a blood light because these really make the blood stick out expecially if you are tracking in a field. Also a little trick i learned this year is fill up a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide. spray it around where you think the blood trail may have went and if there is any blood it will bubble perfusely as if you put it on a scab also the oxygen content makes the blood a bright red and easier to see. goodluck!
